Martes, Agosto 10, 2021

Christ-The Power and Wisdom of God (Charles H. Spurgeon, 1857)

 

1 Corinthians 1:24

“But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”


Unbelief toward the gospel of Christ is the most unreasonable thing in all 
the world, because the reason which the unbeliever gives for his unbelief is 
fairly met by the character and constitution of the gospel of Christ. Notice 
that before this verse we read-"The Jews required a sign, the Greeks seek 
after wisdom." If you met the Jew who believed not on Christ in the apostle's 
day, he said, "I can not believe, because I want a sign;" and if you met the 
Greek, he said, "I can not believe, because I want a philosophic system, one 
that is full of wisdom." "Now," says the apostle, "both these objections are 
untenable and unreasonable. If you suppose that the Jew requires a sign, that 
sign is given him: Christ is the power of God. The miracles that Christ 
wrought upon earth were signs more than sufficiently abundant; and if the 
Jewish people had but the will to believe, they would have found abundant 
signs and reasons for believing in the personal acts of Christ and his 
apostles." And let the Greeks say, "I can not believe, because I require a 
wise system: O Greek, Christ is the wisdom of God. If thou wouldst but 
investigate the subject, thou wouldst find in it profoundness of wisdom-a 
depth where the most gigantic intellect might be drowned. It is no shallow 
gospel, but a deep, and a great deep too, a deep which passeth understanding. 
Thine objection is ill-founded; for Christ is the wisdom of God, and his 
gospel is the highest of all sciences. If thou wishest to find wisdom, thou 
must find it in the word of revelation."

Now, this morning, we shall try to bring out these two thoughts of the 
gospel; and it may be that God shall bless what we shall say to the removing 
of the objection of either Jew or Greek; that the one requiring a sign may 
see it in the power of God in Christ, and that he who requireth wisdom may 
behold it in the wisdom of God in Christ. We shall understand our text in a 
threefold manner: Christ, that is, Christ personally, is "the power of God 
and the wisdom of God;" Christ, that is, Christ's gospel, is "the power of 
God and the wisdom of God;" Christ, that is, Christ in the heart-true 
religion, is "the power of God and the wisdom of God."

I. First, to begin, then, with CHRIST PERSONALLY. Christ considered as God 
and man, the Son of God equal with his Father, and yet the man, born of the 
Virgin Mary. Christ, in his complex person, is "the power of God and the 
wisdom of God." He is the power of God from all eternity. "By his word were 
the heavens made, and all the host of them." "The Word was God, and the Word 
was with God." "All things were made by him, and without him was not any 
thing made that was made." The pillars of the earth were placed in their 
everlasting sockets by the omnipotent right hand of Christ; the curtains of 
the heavens were drawn upon their rings of starry light by him who was from 
everlasting the All-glorious Son of God. The orbs that float aloft in ether, 
those ponderous planets, and those mighty stars, were placed in their 
positions or sent rolling through space by the eternal strength of him who is 
"the first and the last." "the Prince of the kings of the earth." Christ is 
the power of God, for he is the Creator of all things, and by him all things 
exist.

But when he came to earth, took upon himself the fashion of a man, 
tabernacled in the inn, and slept in the manger, he still gave proof that he 
was the Son of God; not so much so when, as an infant of a span long, the 
immortal was the mortal and the infinite became a babe; not so much so in his 
youth, but afterward when he began his public ministry, he gave abundant 
proofs of his power and Godhead. The winds hushed by his finger uplifted, the 
waves calmed by his voice, so that they became solid as marble beneath his 
tread; the tempest, cowering at his feet, as before a conqueror whom it knew 
and obeyed; these things, these stormy elements, the wind, the tempest, and 
the water, gave full proof of his abundant power. The lame man leaping, the 
deaf man hearing, the dumb man singing, the dead rising, these, again, were 
proofs that he was, the "power of God." When the voice of Jesus startled the 
shades of Hades, and rent the bonds of death, with "Lazarus, come forth!" and 
when the carcass rotten in the tomb woke up to life, there was proof of his 
divine power and Godhead. A thousand other proofs he afforded; but we need 
not stay to mention them to you who have Bibles in your houses, and who can 
read them every day. At last he yielded up his life, and was buried in the 
tomb. Not long, however, did he sleep; for he gave another proof of his 
divine power and Godhead, when starting from his slumber, he affrighted the 
guards with the majesty of his grandeur, not being holden by the bonds of 
death, they being like green withes before our conquering Samson, who had 
meanwhile pulled up the gates of hell, and carried them on his shoulders far 
away.

That he is the power of God now, Scripture very positively affirmeth; for it 
is written, "he sitteth at the right hand of God." He hath the reins of 
Providence gathered in his hands; the fleet coursers of Time are driven by 
him who sits in the chariot of the world, and bids its wheels run round; and 
he shall bid them stay when it shall please him. He is the great umpire of 
all disputes, the great Sovereign Head of the church, the Lord of heaven, and 
death, and hell; and by-and-by we shall know that he shall come,

                     "On fiery clouds and wings of wind,
                      Appointed Judge of all mankind;"

and then the quickened dead, the startled myriads, the divided firmaments, 
the "Depart, ye cursed," and the "Come, ye blessed," shall proclaim him to be 
the power of God, who hath power over all flesh, to save or to condemn, as it 
pleaseth him.

But he is equally "the wisdom of God." The great things that he did before 
all worlds were proofs of his wisdom. He planned the way of salvation; he 
devised the system of atonement and substitution; he laid the foundations of 
the great plan of salvation. There was wisdom. But he built the heavens by 
wisdom, and he laid the pillars of light, whereon the firmament is balanced, 
by his skill and wisdom. Mark the world; and learn, as ye see all its 
multitudinous proofs of the wisdom of God, and there you have the wisdom of 
Christ; for he was the creator of it. And when he became a man, he gave 
proofs enough of wisdom. Even in childhood, when he made the doctors sit 
abashed by the questions that he asked, he showed that he was more than 
mortal. And when the Pharisee and Sadducce and Herodian were all at last 
defeated, and their nets were broken, he proved again the superlative wisdom 
of the Son of God. And when those who came to take him, stood enchained by 
his eloquence, spell-bound by his marvelous oratory, there was again a proof 
that he was the wisdom of God, who could so enchain the minds of men. And now 
that he intercedeth before the throne of God, now that he is our Advocate 
before the throne, the pledge and surety for the blessed, now that the reins 
of government are in his hands, and are ever wisely directed, we have 
abundant proofs that the wisdom of God is in Christ, as well as the power of 
God. Bow before him, ye that love him; bow before him, ye that desire him! 
Crown him, crown him, crown him! He is worthy of it, unto him is everlasting 
might; unto him is unswerving wisdom: bless his name; exalt him; clap your 
wings, ye seraphs; cry aloud, ye cherubim; shout, shout, shout, to his 
praise, ye ransomed host above. And ye, O men that know his grace, extol him 
in your songs for ever; for he is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of 
God.

II. But now Christ, that is, CHRIST'S GOSPEL, is the power and the wisdom of 
God.

1. Christ's gospel is a thing of divine power. Do you want proofs of it? Ye 
shall not go far. How could Christ's gospel have been established in this 
world as it was, if it had not in itself intrinsic might? By whom was it 
spread? By mitered prelates, by learned doctors, by fierce warriors, by 
caliphs, by prophets? No; by fishermen, untaught, unlettered; save as the 
Spirit gave them utterance, not knowing how to preach or speak. How did they 
spread it? By the bayonet, by their swords, by the keen metal of their 
blades? Did they drive their gospel into men at the point of the lance, and 
with the cimeter? Say, did myriads rush to battle, as they did when they 
followed the crescent of Mohammed, and did they convert men by force, by law, 
by might? Ah I no. Nothing but their simple words, their unvarnished 
eloquence, their rough declamation, their unhewn oratory; these it was, 
which, by the blessing of God's Spirit, carried the gospel round the world 
within a century after the death of its founder.

But what was this gospel which achieved so much? Was it a thing palatable to 
human nature? Did it offer a paradise of present happiness? Did it offer 
delight to the flesh and to the senses? Did it give charming prospects of 
wealth? Did it give licentious ideas to men? No; it was a gospel of morality 
most strict, it was a gospel with delights entirely spiritual-a gospel which 
abjured the flesh, which, unlike the coarse delusion of Joe Smith, cut off 
every prospect from men of delighting themselves with the joys of lust. It 
was a gospel holy, spotless, clean as the breath of heaven; it was pure as 
the wing of angel; not like that which spread of old, in the days of 
Mohammed, a gospel of lust, of vice, and wickedness, but pure, and 
consequently not palatable to human nature. And yet it spread. Why? My 
friends, I think the only answer I can give you is, because it has in it the 
power of God.

But do you want another proof? How has it been maintained since then? No easy 
path has the gospel had. The good bark of the church has had to plow her way 
through seas of blood, and those who have manned her have been bespattered 
with the bloody spray; yea, they have had to man her and keep her in motion, 
by laying down their lives unto the death. Mark the bitter persecution of the 
church of Christ from the time of Nero to the days of Mary, and further on, 
through the days of Charles the Second, and of those kings of unhappy memory, 
who had not as yet learned how to spell "toleration." From the dragoons of 
Claverhouse, right straight away to the gladiatorial shows of Rome, what a 
long series of persecutions has the gospel had! But, as the old divines used 
to say, "The blood of the martyrs" has been "the seed of the church." It has 
been, as the old herbalists had it, like the herb camomile, the more it is 
trodden on, the more it grows; and the more the church has been ill-treated, 
the more it has prospered. Behold the mountains where the Albigenses walk in 
their white garments; see the stakes of smithfleld, not yet forgotten; behold 
ye the fields among the towering hills, where brave hands kept themselves 
free from despotic tyranny. Mark ye the Pilgrim Fathers, driven by a 
government of persecution across the briny deep. See what vitality the gospel 
has. Plunge her under the wave, and she rises, the purer for her washing; 
thrust her in the fire, and she comes out, the more bright for her burning; 
cut her in sunder, and each piece shall make another church; behead her, and 
like the hydra of old, she shall have a hundred heads for every one you cut 
away. She can not die, she must live; for she has the power of God within 
her.

Do you want another proof? I give you a better one than the last. I do not 
wonder that the church has outlived persecution so much as I wonder she has 
outlived the unfaithfulness of her professed teachers. Never was church so 
abused as the church of Christ has been, all through her history; from the 
days of Diotrephes, who sought to have the pre-eminence, even to these later 
times, we can read of proud, arrogant prelates, and supercilious, haughty 
lords over God's inheritance. Bonners, Dunstans, and men of all sorts, have 
come into her ranks, and done all they could to kill her; and with their 
lordly priestcraft they have tried to turn her aside. And what shall we say 
to that huge apostacy of Rome? A thousand miracles that ever the church 
outlived that! When her pretended head became apostate, and all her bishops 
disciples of hell, and she had gone far away, wonder of wonders, that she 
should come out, in the days of the glorious Reformation, and should still 
live. And, even now, when I mark the supineness of many of my brethren in the 
ministry-when I mark their utter and entire inefficiency of doing aught for 
God-when I see their waste of time, preaching now and then on the Sunday, 
instead of going to the highways and hedges and preaching the gospel 
everywhere to the poor-when I see the want of unction in the church itself, 
the want of prayerfulness-when I see wars and fightings, factions and 
disunions-when I see hot blood and pride, even in the meetings of the saints; 
I say it is a thousand thousand miracles that the church of God should be 
alive at all, after the unfaithfulness of her members, her ministers, and her 
bishops. She has the power of God within her, or else she would have been 
destroyed; for she has got enough within her own loins to work her 
destruction.

"But," says one, "you have not yet proved it is the power of God to my 
understanding." Sir, I will give you another proof There are not a few of 
you, who are now present, who would be ready, I know, if it were necessary, 
to rise in your seats and bear me witness that I speak the truth. There are 
some who, not many months ago, were drunkards; some who were loose livers; 
men who were unfaithful to every vow which should keep man to truth, and 
right, and chastity, and honesty, and integrity. Yes, I repeat, I have some 
here who look back to a life of detestable sin. You tell me, some of you, 
that for thirty years even (there is one such present now) you never listened 
to a gospel ministry, nor ever entered the house of God at all; you despised 
the Sabbath, you spent it in all kinds of evil pleasures, you plunged 
headlong into sin and vice, and your only wonder is, that God has not out you 
off long ago, as cumberers of the ground; and now you are here, as different 
as light from darkness. I know your characters, and have watched you with a 
father's love; for, child though I am, I am the spiritual father of some here 
whose years outcount mine by four times the number; and I have seen you 
honest who were thieves, and you sober who were drunkards. I have seen the 
wife's glad eye sparkling with happiness; and many a woman has grasped me by 
the hand, shed her tears upon me, and said, "I bless God; I am a happy woman 
now; my husband is reclaimed, my house is blessed; our children are brought 
up in the fear of the Lord." Not one or two, but scores of such are here. 
And, my friends, if these be not proofs that the gospel is the power of God, 
I say there is no proof of any thing to be had in the world, and every thing 
must be conjecture. Yes, and there worships with you this day (and if there 
be a secularist here, my friend will pardon me for alluding to him for a 
moment), there is in the house of God this day one who was a leader in your 
ranks, one who despised God, and ran very far away from right. And here he 
is! It is his honor this day to own himself a Christian; and I hope, when 
this sermon is ended, to grasp him by the hand, for he has done a valiant 
deed; he has bravely burned his papers in the sight of all the people, and 
has turned to God with full purpose of heart. I could give you proofs enough, 
if proofs were wanted, that the gospel has been to men the power of God and 
the wisdom of God. More proofs I could give, yea, thousands, one upon the 
other.

But we must notice the other points. Christ's gospel is the wisdom of God. 
Look at the gospel itself and you will see it to be wisdom. The man who 
scoffs and sneers at the gospel does so for no other reason but because he 
does not understand it. We have two of the richest books of theology extant 
that were written by professed infidels-by men that were so, I mean, before 
they wrote the books. You may have heard the story of Lord Lyttleton and 
West. I believe they determined to refute Christianity; one of them took up 
the subject of Paul's conversion, and the other, the subject of the 
resurrection; they sat down, both of them, to write books to ridicule those 
two events, and the effect was, that in studying the subject, they, both of 
them, became Christians, and wrote books which are now bulwarks to the church 
they hoped to have overthrown. Every man who looks the gospel fairly in the 
face, and gives it the study it ought to have, will discover that it is no 
false gospel, but a gospel that is replete with wisdom, and full of the 
knowledge of Christ. If any man will cavil at the Bible, be must cavil. There 
are some men who can find no wisdom anywhere, except in their own heads. Such 
men, however, are no judges of wisdom. We should not set a mouse to explain 
the phenomena of astronomy, nor should we set a man who is so foolish as to 
do nothing but cavil to understand the wisdom of the gospel. It needs that a 
man should at least be honest, and have some share of sense, or we can not 
dispute with him at all. Christ's gospel, to any man who believes it, is the 
wisdom of God.

Allow me just to hint that to be a believer in the gospel is no dishonor to a 
man's intellect. While the gospel can be understood by the poorest and the 
most illiterate, while there are shallows in it where a lamb may wade, there 
are depths where leviathan may swim. The intellect of Locke found ample space 
in the gospel; the mind of Newton submitted to receive the truth of 
inspiration as a little child, and found a something in its majestic being 
higher than itself, unto which it could not attain. The rudest and most 
untaught have been enabled, by the study of the holy Scripture of God's truth 
to enter the kingdom; and the most erudite have said of the gospel, it 
surpasses thought. I was thinking the other day what a vast amount of 
literature must be lost if the gospel be not true. No book was ever so 
suggestive as the Bible. Large tomes we have in our libraries which it takes 
all our strength to lift, all upon holy Scripture; myriads upon myriads of 
smaller volumes, tens of thousands of every shape and size, all written upon 
the Bible; and I have thought that the very suggestiveness of Scripture, the 
supernatural suggestiveness of holy Writ, may be in itself a proof of its 
divine wisdom, since no man has ever been able to write a book which could 
have so many commentators and so many writers upon its text as the Bible has 
received, by so much as one millionth part.

III. CHRIST IN A MAN THE GOSPEL IN THE SOUL, is the power of God and the 
wisdom of God. We will picture the Christian from his beginning to his end. 
We will give a short map of his history. He begins there, in that prison-
house, with huge iron bars, which he can not file; in that dark, damp cell, 
where pestilence and death are bred. There, in poverty and nakedness, without 
a pitcher to put to his thirsty lips, without a mouthful even of dry crust to 
satisfy his hunger, that is where be begins-in the prison chamber of 
conviction, powerless, lost and ruined. Between the bars I thrust my hand to 
him, and give to him in God's name the name of Christ to plead. Look at him; 
he has been filing away at these bars many and many a day, without their 
yielding an inch; but now he has got the name of Christ upon his lips; he 
puts his hands upon the bars, and one of them is gone, and another, and 
another; and be makes a happy escape, crying, "I am free, I am free, I am 
free! Christ has been the power of God to me, in bringing me out of my 
trouble." No sooner is he free, however, than a thousand doubts meet him. 
This one cries, "You are not elect;" another cries, "You are not redeemed;" 
another says, "You are not called;" another says, "You are not converted." 
"Avaunt," says he, "avaunt! Christ died;" and he just pleads the name of 
Christ as the power of God, and the doubts flee apace, and he walks straight 
on. He comes soon into the furnace of trouble; he is thrust into the 
innermost prison, and his feet are made fast in the stocks. God has put his 
hand upon him. He is in deep trouble; at midnight he begins to sing of 
Christ; and lo! the walls begin to totter, and the foundation of the prison 
to shake; and the man's chains are taken off, and he comes out free; for 
Christ hath delivered him from trouble. Here is a hill to climb, on the road 
to heaven. Wearily he pants up the side of that hill, and thinks he must die 
ere he can reach the summit. The name of Jesus is whispered in his ear; he 
leaps to his feet, and pursues his way, with fresh courage, until the summit 
is gained, when he cries, "Jesus Christ is the strength of my song; he also 
hath become my salvation." See him again. He is on a sudden beset by many 
enemies; how shall he resist them? With this true sword, this true Jerusalem 
blade, Christ, and him crucified. With this he keeps the devil at arm's 
length; with this he fights against temptation, and against lust, against 
spiritual wickedness in high places, and with this he resists. Now, he has 
come to his last struggle; the river Death rolls black and sullen before him; 
dark shapes rise upward from the flood, and howl and fright him. How shall he 
cross the stream? How shall he find a landing place on the other side? Dread 
thoughts perplex him for a moment; he is alarmed; but he remembers, Jesus 
died; and catching up that watchword he ventures to the flood. Before his 
feet the Jordan flies apace; like Israel of old, he walks through, dry shod, 
singing as he goes to heaven, "Christ is with me, Christ is with me, passing 
through the stream ! Victory, victory, victory, to him that loveth me!"

To the Christian in his own experience Christ is ever the power of God. As 
for temptation he can meet that with Christ; as for trouble he can endure 
that through Christ who strengthens him, yea, he can say with Paul, "I can do 
all things through Christ who strengthens me." Have you never seen a 
Christian in trouble, a true Christian? I have read a story of a man who was 
converted to God by seeing the conduct of his wife in the hour of trouble. 
They had a lovely child, their only offspring. The father's heart doted on it 
perpetually, and the mother's soul was knit up in the heart of the little 
one. It lay sick upon its bed, and the parents watched it night and day. At 
last it died. The father had no God: he rent his hair, he rolled upon the 
floor in misery, wallowed upon the earth, cursing his being, and defying God 
in the utter casting down of his agony. There sat his wife, as fond of the 
child as ever he could be; and though tears would come, she gently said "The 
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." 
"What," said he, starting to his feet, "you love that child? I thought that 
when that child died you would break your heart. Here am I, a strong man. I 
am mad: here are you, a weak woman, and yet you are strong and bold; tell me 
what it is possesses you?" Said she, "Christ is my Lord, I trust in him; 
surely I can give this child to him who gave himself for me." From that 
instant the man became a believer. "There must," said he, "be some truth and 
some power in the gospel, which could lead you to believe in such a manner, 
under such a trial." Christians! try to exhibit that spirit wherever you are, 
and prove to the worldling that in your experience at least "Christ is the 
power of God and the wisdom of God."

And now the last point. In the Christian's experience, Christ is wisdom, as 
well as power. If you want to be a thoroughly learned man the best place to 
begin, is to begin at the Bible, to begin at Christ. It is said that even 
children learn to read more quickly from the Bible than from any other book; 
and this I am sure of, that we, who are but grown-up children, will learn 
better and learn faster by beginning with Christ than we could by beginning 
with any thing else. I remember saying once, and as I can not say it better I 
will repeat it, that before I knew the gospel I gathered up a heterogeneous 
mass of all kinds of knowledge from here, there, and everywhere; a bit of 
chemistry, a bit of botany, a bit of astronomy, and a bit of this, that, and 
the other. I put them altogether, in one great confused chaos. When I learned 
the gospel, I got a shelf in my head to put every thing away upon just where 
it should be. It seemed to me as if, when I had discovered Christ and him 
crucified, I had got the center of the system, so that I could see every 
other science revolving around in order. From the earth, you know, the 
planets appear to move in a very irregular manner-they are progressive, retro 
grade, stationary; but if you could get upon the sun, you would see them 
marching round in their constant, uniform, circular motion. So with 
knowledge. Begin with any other science you like, and truth will seem to be 
awry. Begin with the science of Christ crucified, and you will begin with the 
sun, you will see every other science moving round it in complete harmony. 
The greatest mind in the world will be evolved by beginning at the right end. 
The old saying is, "Go from nature up to nature's God;" but it is hard work 
going up hill. The best thing is to go from nature's God down to nature; and 
if you once get to nature's God, and believe him and love him, it is 
surprising how easy it is to hear music in the waves, and songs in the wild 
whisperings of the winds; to see God everywhere, in the stones, in the rocks, 
in the rippling brooks, and hear him everywhere, in the lowing of cattle, in 
the rolling of thunder, and in the fury of tempests. Get Christ first, put 
him in the right place, and you will find him to be the wisdom of God in your 
own experience.

But wisdom is not knowledge; and we must not confound the two. Wisdom is the 
right use of knowledge; and Christ's gospel helps us, by teaching us the 
right use of knowledge. It directs us. Yon Christian has lost his way in a 
dark wood; but God's Word is a compass to him, and a lantern, too: he finds 
his way by Christ. He comes to a turn in the road. Which is right, and which 
is wrong? He can not tell. Christ is the great sign-post, telling him which 
way to go. He sees every day new straits attend; he knows not which way to 
steer. Christ is the great pilot who puts his hand on the tiller, and makes 
him wise to steer through the shoals of temptation and the rocks of sin. Get 
the gospel, and you are a wise man. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
wisdom, and right understanding have they who keep his commandments." Ah! 
Christian, you have had many doubts, but you have had them all unriddled, 
when you have come to the cross of Christ. You have had many difficulties; 
but they have been all explained in the light of Calvary. You have seen 
mysteries, when you have brought them to the face of Christ, made clear and 
manifest, which once you never could have known. Allow me to remark here, 
that some people make use of Christ's gospel to illuminate their heads, 
instead of making use of it to illuminate their hearts. They are like the 
farmer Rowland Hill once described. The farmer is sitting, by the fire with 
his children; the cat is purring on the hearth, and they are all in great 
comfort. The plowman rushes in and cries, "Thieves! thieves! thieves!" The 
farmer rises up in a moment, grasps the candle, holds it up to his head, 
rushes after the thieves, and, says Rowland Hill, "he tumbles over a 
wheelbarrow, because he holds the light to his head, instead of holding it to 
his feet." So there are many who just hold religion up to illuminate their 
intellect, instead of holding it down to illuminate their practice; and so 
they make a sad tumble of it, and cast themselves into the mire, and do more 
hurt to their Christian profession in one hour than they will ever be able to 
retrieve. Take care that you make the wisdom of God, by God's Holy Spirit, a 
thing of true wisdom, directing your feet into his statutes, and keeping you 
in his ways.

And now a practical appeal, and we have done. I have been putting my arrow on 
the string; and if I have used any light similes, I have but done so just as 
the archer tips his arrow with a feather, to make it fly the better. I know 
that a rough quaint saying often sticks, when another thing is entirely for-
gotten. Now let us draw the bow, and send the arrow right at your hearts. 
Men, brethren, fathers, how many of you have felt in yourselves that Christ 
is the power of God, and the wisdom of God? Internal evidence is the best 
evidence in the world for the truth of the gospel. No Paley or Butler can 
prove the truth of the gospel so well as Mary, the servant girl yonder, that 
has got the gospel in her heart, and the power of it manifest in her life. 
Say, has Christ ever broken your bonds and set you free? Has he delivered you 
from your evil life, and from your sin? Has he given you "a good hope through 
grace," and can you now say, "On him I lean; on my beloved I stay myself?" If 
so, go away and rejoice: you are a saint; for the apostle has said, "He is 
unto us who are saved, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." But if 
you can not say this, allow me affectionately to warn you. If you want not 
this power of Christ, and this wisdom of Christ now, you will want them in a 
few short moments, when God shall come to judge the quick and the dead, when 
you shall stand before his bar, and when all the deeds that you have done 
shall be read before an assembled world. You will want religion then. O that 
you had grace to tremble now; grace to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and 
you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." Hear ye how 
to be saved, and I have done. Do you feel that you are a sinner? Are you 
conscious that you have rebelled against God? Are you willing to acknowledge 
your transgressions, and do you hate and abhor them, while at the same time 
you feel you can do nothing to atone for them? Then hear this. Christ died 
for you; and if he died for you, you can not be lost. Christ died in vain for 
no man for whom he died. If you are a penitent and a believer, he died for 
you, and you are safe; go your way: rejoice "with joy unspeakable, and full 
of glory;" for he who has taught you your need of a Saviour, will give you 
that Saviour's blood to be applied to your conscience, and you shall ere 
long, with yonder blood-washed host, praise God and the Lamb saying, 
"Hallelujah, for ever, Amen!" Only do you feel that you are a sinner? If not, 
I have no gospel to preach to you; I can but warn you. But if you feel your 
lost estate, and come to Christ, come, and welcome, for he will never cast 
you away.

https://www.biblebb.com/

Walang komento:

Mag-post ng isang Komento